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The first thing I hear when I wake up is the dulcet tones of BBC Breakfast as my missus switches on en route to the shower. So my alarm call is normally the state of the roads, the weather outlook, ‘My teenager survived on a diet of cheese on toast’. But no longer.

I can guarantee that whatever the time, the topic being discussed will be the credit crunch. When I get into work I scan all the mornings papers, all dominated by the chaos in the markets. Most news bulletins devote the first half to economic and political analysis of the ‘global meltdown’.

So, its a great time to be Robert Peston. He’s working sixteen hour days as he dials in from home on his ISDN line to comment on the Today Programme and BBC Breakfast and keeps at it through to Newsnight in the evening, maybe knocking off around 11pm. But its interesting to note how the shifting agenda is benefitting other media players;

 THE WINNERS

• BBC Business Unit - for years it was the Cinderella for a BBC news operation that was dominated by politics and was sniffy about money and the vulgar people that were interested in it. Greg Dyke started the shift towards a recognition that millions of licence payers had PEPs, ISAs and private pensions and that the economy was heavily reliant on financial services. Now it is increasingly called upon to translate this complicated financial stuff to the big beasts of the Today programme, World At One and Newsnight.
• The Pundits - There’s a small coterie of commentators who can be called upon for expert input or to fill a panel at short notice. Popping up frequently include Will Hutton, former journalist and now a think tank head; Gillian Tett, FT journalist, intelligent and very telegenic, watch out for her book; Diana Choyleva, Director of Lombard Street Research and can be relied upon to ruffle feathers amongst know-it-all economists.
• Whoever owns the copyright to that haunting, trumpety music at the start of every Newsnight report!
•  The FT’s Alphaville blog - has boosted its audience massively as people seek up-to-the minute insight into what the hell’s going on. Good mix of intelligence, speed, interactivity and a humourous tone. Traffic has boomed from in recent weeks as some users log on at 6am and are still on late in the evening. They can’t all work for the Treasury…

 THE LOSERS

• Possibly Peston - He’s becoming a hate figure on right wing blogs, who attribute all his exclusives to a cosy relationship with the Brown team and the Treasury. Peter Preston asks whether he could become the blog version of Andrew Gilligan.
• Stephanie Flanders - currently away on maternity leave at a time when she would be regularly leading the main news bulletins. Hugh Pym steals the show instead.